THE best movie experiences stay with you a long time after the credits have started to roll, your seat has flipped back and you've brushed away those stray bits of popcorn that fell into your lap in the darkness of the cinema over the preceding two or three hours.
A long time...
It will soon be approaching a quarter of a century since I first saw a film that in this writer's opinion has not been bettered either before or since.
It's a quirky, offbeat story of a farmer from Iowa called Ray Kinsella who begins to hear a voice while he's working in his cornfield. The voice tells him: "If you build it, he will come".
Ray realises he has to do away with his corn that's providing a living for his wife and young daughter and construct a baseball diamond complete with floodlights.
But that's not the end of the story. That's just the beginning.
The movie I am referring to is, of course, Field Of Dreams.
To some - who have not seen it - it's often pigeon-holed as just another baseball picture starring Kevin Costner.
Well, yes - it does star Kevin Costner as the farmer, but no, it certainly isn't just another baseball picture.
True, America's National Pastime is featured in the movie, but it's more, much more than that. It's a richly entertaining and life-affirming tale which tugs, nay pulls hard at the heartstrings and has a magical, mystical, spiritual theme coursing throughout that people who love It's A Wonderful Life each and every Christmas would appreciate straightaway.
There are some outstanding performances too in the picture, notably James Earl Jones as a reclusive writer called Terrence Mann who Ray realises he has to meet in Boston and, poignantly, the great Burt Lancaster in his final big screen role. Lancaster portrays the character Archibald 'Moonlight' Graham who was a real player in the major leagues who only appeared in one half of an inning his entire career before becoming a doctor.
There are lots of twists and turns along the way with the final 10 minutes or so providing truly emotional moments before Ray, and us, finally realise why he has been on this quite incredible journey.
I first saw Field Of Dreams with my Dad at the now-gone London Road Odeon in the autumn of 1989. As soon as it came out on VHS I bought it and have since purchased the special edition on DVD.
It is, quite simply, my Desert Island Film that could watch forever and a day.
I cannot praise this picture highly enough and if you've never yet seen it, try and spare a couple of hours in 2013 to rectify that. I guarantee you will not be disappointed.
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